Unit Visits (for the technical interview)
 

Having just been invited to attend the interview, my mind is moving on to arranging some unit visits.I am hoping there might be some people out there to help me on this!

I live in Edinburgh, so I was thinking about contacting them. Also, it would be good to visit oceanic and finally, I would like to go down to Manchester or London to visit a bigger operation.

Whats the best way of making contact? There was nothing in the letter - I thought there was going to be a list of contacts!

What's the best time? For me the weekends would be good, but that may not be suitable.

Is visiting three places overkill?

I have almost two months to cram as much knowledge in, so I have time to plan all this in - What's your thoughts?

Someone_Else,

You will probably find that on weekends there are just fewer admin staff about. But I am sure someone else (not you obviously) will be able to show you around.
If you give HR a call they will probably be able to help you with contacts.
As for visiting loads of units; getting a broad view can't be a bad thing. If you visit Scottish, there probably isn't a dire need to visit another unit such as Swanwick (LACC) or West Drayton (LTCC).
Good luck with the interview :8

Hi,

Really poor that you were'nt supplied with a contact list so you should def contact HR and get this.

You can never visit too many units before your interview but to be honest a visit to Edinburgh or Glasgow tower and then perhaps one to Scottish Centre would be enough. Scottish is a bigger operation than Manch anyway and i'll be a lot cheaper to go to Prestwick !! (travel wise I mean)

Although not doing any harm, going to West Drayton or Swanwick won't necessarily gain you any extra "brownie points" at the interview.

Hope the helps


TT

Hi,
Congratulations!! I've been invited to interview as well. i was given three weeks notice!!!! HR weren't much help... asked for a contact list but told me i wouldn't have time to visit anywhere before... little did they know!!!! I myself have phoned Luton and west drayton and i have both visits next week.... says it all really eh? Get the contact details of the unit and ask the question.... i'm sure they'll be more than willing to help. I've found that weekdays are best to visit as there are generally more admin staff around to help with visits etc.... let us know how you get on! Wish me luck!!
Chris F :\

Thanks guys for your response, I did think it a bit strange there were no contact lists, but it wont take me to long to hunt them down - perhaps that's the first test!

Chris - 3 weeks eh? Sheesh, thats lots of notice! I seem to have got a way with 2 months! Good luck with it, you will know your success or fail before I have even been for the interview!

Cheers - any more thoughts, keep em coming!

Craig

Good luck for your interviews Someone_Else and chrisf. Got my interview on Wed. I got three weeks notice too.

When I rang HR I was told we couldn't visit any units as we didn't have security clearance. Fortunately took some notes when I got a chance to visit LHR and LATCC last year, so I'm hoping they'll get me through!

Politely put .... what a lot of bollocks :)

We have visits by Womens Institutes, Round Tables, etc, etc ... are they all security cleared ??

Most people on here work at the units concerned and can make arrangements ... or we know people at other units who can do so. I wouldn't believe everything that HR tell you ... and I mean that on the inside as well as the outside ;)

In fact, received this yesterday, so PPRuNe can help make a difference ....

Congratulations to our successful PPRuNer ..... and Good Luck to those who follow :ok:

I've been given the same security issue story from HR when I rang West Drayton last week - so frustrating.

Fortunately I was lucky enough to spend a few hours at EGLC (London City) last week so much thanks to those guys in the tower. They were very accomodating and were more than happy to answer my questions about NATS, the interview process and the job.:ok:

Having seen a tower aspect, I would really like to see some area and approach, so if someone knows a good back door into West Drayton or the inpenetrable Swanwick before the end of April, I would be most pleased to hear about it.

Am I right in thinking that some of the larger airports, e.g. Manchester have approach on site?

Also, am I best to ring airport information to forward me to the tower or take the numbers for ATC out of the AIP?

Furthermore...i'm on a roll now...:D....(and I have read the pre-interview posts) but if anyone can reccommend reading material, charts, dvds etc.. that will help me and the others here in the interview, that would be top!

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out!!

If anyone wants to visit Manchester ACC and Tower, get in touch and i'll sort it out personally for you.... we're always willing to accomodate new recruits for visits.

Good Luck to all in the process, and beyond!

I seem to remember the only DVD i watched was Die Hard 2 - the night before my second interview!! - It must have worked coz I'm in now.

When i went through i was sent a reading list for my technical interview :

Title Author Publisher
Air Traffic Control Graham Duke Allen Ian

Air Traffic Control Ann Paylor Allen Ian
Today & Tomorrow

UK Air Traffic Control David Graves Airlife Publishing
A Layman's guide
3rd Edition


Personally i found the later to be the most useful. On the same letter i was passed a list of establishments that i could visit - How do they expect you to know the detais of who to contact etc, as many recruits have little or no aviation experiance. I certainly had never heard of the AIP until i started at CATC let alone know how to get a phone number out the thing. ( Truth be known I probably still struggle )

Hope thats some help and best of luck :o)


Regards

Turn It Off

Its definitely best to speak to those at 'the coal face' direct...not the organ grinders(as they like to think of themselves!!) Couldnt organise a p!ss up in a brewery! Long live HR!!

Where in AIS are the details? I probably could find them if I had a good look, but I prefer the lazy way! :p

Go to http://www.ais.org.uk/aes/pubs/aip/html/aipad2.htm

then select the desired airfield,

next look at the textual data for said airfield

At the top there should be telephone(ATC)...

Seems to work... but do slap my wrists if I shouldn't approach it this way!!!!

Thanks, I'll give that a bash aswell!

Hi all,
Visited Luton Tower today..... oh yes, this is the job for me!! The guys were really helpful and willing to answer all my questions!! I'm off to west drayton tommorrow, all i did was phone them and they organised it, no problem!! So i'd like to know why people are having some trouble. The only thing i can think is that there has been a sudden influx of requests and there literally isn't time... just guessing tho! :rolleyes:
As regards to contact phone numbers, i used my pooleys flight guide (aerodrome maps and procedures...... a lot more basic than the AIP's) just asked the question and was passed to the relevant people.
The interview next week!! aaargh. think i'm fine on the technical (bit of an anorak from a young age!) only query is the computer tests.... oh well, fingers crossed!
Good luck everyone! Hope to see you on a course in the future sometime!!
Chris

Hi

I have just heard that I have an interview on the 7th April. I wasn't supplied with any contact details either for arranging visits.

I would like to visit Glasgow Tower and Prestwick Area Control. If anyone could help I would love to hear from you.

I am based in Glasgow.

Called Prestwick today. I was told they do not do individual visits and group visits are arranged for your 2nd interview. First I have heard of this. Can anyone shed any light?

Hotairlass,

is this the testing phase or the technical interview? If the technical interview, then they should be able to accomadate you (especially if you ask nicely) - otherwise you're best off to contact HR in Swawick. If you haven't had a unit visit prior to the interview, not only will you miss a lot of potential learning from looking and listening, but they won't think you're serious about the role.

Might also be worth visiting the centre and also getting a tower visit. You're lucky being so close to both types of unit, and will have "one up" on the other candidates. Not always possible to visit both disciplines if you're stuck on any of the county's extremities!

If it's the tests, then it's nothing to worry about. All you need to do is read the supplied information, practice any of the psychometric tests you can do online (such as the fast-track civil service one) to give you a flavour of what they're like, re-learn your 6 times, 4 times, 3 times tables and above all, revise like hell!

Best of luck, all in all it's a fun process.

WF:ok:

Unit Visit
 

Fidgell

'If anyone wants to visit Manchester ACC and Tower'

Can i take you up on your offer, I have just been through the first satge of selection for Nats and would like to visit Manchester before my interview in May.

Hope you can help!

Thanks
Dave

Visits
 

Dave_Rowe

I too have my interview in May and would like to visit Manchester fairly soon, if u manage to get somethin arranged with fidgell, please give me a shout as I'd appreciate some help.

Cheers, Damian.